October 17th, 2018
Antonio Cueto has Jake Strong in his office, and he offers Strong a spot in the Ultima Lucha main event. Strong knows he’s a worthy champion, but he doesn’t want things handed to him. Cueto then tries to give Strong one of the Ancient Aztec Medallions, but Strong throws it back in his face. Strong says Cueto better have saved him some of the sacrifices that Matanza had, because this temple is HIS.
Matt Striker and Vampiro confirm that Ultima Lucha Cuatro is just two weeks away! They send it off to Antonio Cueto, who announces they’ll be crowning a new Gift of the Gods Champion. Cueto has AWARDED the medallions to Aerostar, PJ Black, Hernandez, Big Bad Steve, King Cuerno, Jake Strong, and Dante Fox! Same as last time, there’ll be a Battle Royal, where the winner picks who isn’t in contention for the title next week.
Battle Royal: Aerostar vs. PJ Black vs. Hernandez vs. Big Bad Steve vs. King Cuerno vs. Jake Strong vs. Dante Fox
If you remember the Battle Royal from last time, this was pretty much the same thing. Some fun spots, cool looking moves, cheap pops, but rapid fire eliminations and a match without much drama or time. The winner was never in doubt, but it’s really cool seeing Dante Fox back in the Temple, and he got a great reaction. Nothing much here, and what happened after made this completely useless.
Winner: Jake Strong
Match Rating: NR
Jake Strong gets on the mic afterwards and says he doesn’t want anyone out of the match next week… Cueto lets it happen, and next week will be a Seven Way to Survive match. I thought 7 was an unlucky number? Oh well… If we didn’t get enough of Strong already, he says he could use some more competition. Antonio Cueto says Strong will fight Johnny Mundo tonight!
Killshot vs. The Mack
This was a match that made sense, but both have big time matches coming up at Ultima Lucha, so no one should be taking a loss. Thankfully it was kept short (but sadly since these two could put on a KILLER match), and they did some cool things before the interference’s happened. Mil Muertes came out and beat up The Mack, before Son of Havoc made the save, and we hyped up those matches for Ultima Lucha.
Winner: No Contest
Match Rating: NR
Ivelisse and XO Lishus Have an Ultima Lucha Announcement
Ivelisse announces that her and XO will be getting a Trios Title match at Ultima Lucha! However, Joey Ryan won’t be ready to go in time, so they need to find a new partner. XO says that isn’t a problem, because they’re new partner is Sammy Guevara! This leads Famous B to come out, and say when Guevara signed with Famous Inc. he signed to a seven year deal, and Guevara would be breaking that with this Ultima Lucha match. Guevara hits the ropes, and hits Famous B with a huge dive! Guevara then grabs a trash can, puts it over Famous B’s head, and nails a superkick!
Matt Striker and Vampiro run down the card for Ultima Lucha Cuatro, with the added 3 Way Trios Elimination Match between Ivelisse, XO Lishus, and Sammy Guevara vs. The Rabbit Tribe vs. The Reptile Tribe. The rest of the card features Ricky Mundo vs. Taya, Son of Havoc vs. Killshot (Mask vs. Mask), Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Fenix (2 out of 3 Falls), Mil Muertes vs. The Mack (Death Match), Johnny Mundo vs. Matanza, and the Lucha Underground Championship Cero Miedo match where Marty the Moth defends against Pentagon Dark.
Jake Strong vs. Johnny Mundo
Who knew Jake Strong could wrestle?! This was absolutely great, and maybe the best Jake Strong/Hager/Swagger match I’ve EVER seen. Things started off hot with some great brawling in the crowd, including Johnny Mundo showing off his parkour. Mundo definitely carried the workload in this one, but Strong seemed motivated for once, and this was great. The ankle work was the main focus, and Mundo did a great job of selling it. Jake Strong has been booked so strong all season, so why stop now?
Winner: Jake Strong
Match Rating: ***3/4
Jake Strong goes to break Mundo’s ankle after the match, but Matanza comes out, and Strong seemingly passes the torch to Matanza. Matanza beats down Mundo, before Taya comes out, but she didn’t last long before getting a Tour of the Islands. Mundo was busted bad, and seeing Matanza beat him down and get blood all over was a great visual.
Final Thoughts:
This definitely wasn’t up to the standards of the past two weeks, but we had some good build to Ultima Lucha, and a great main event. Things kicked off with the Gift of the Gods being re-introduced, which was only there to make Jake Strong look like a beast. The return of Dante Fox was cool and unexpected, but other than that the Battle Royal was nothing. Killshot and The Mack reunited their rivalry for a short match, which just led to interference to hype two individual Ultima Lucha matches. There wasn’t much there besides a brawl, but at least they’re still building to these matches. Next we had the Ivelisse and XO Lishus announcement, and it’s cool to see Sammy Guevara back, and the Trios match sort of makes sense, because they didn’t want to go Heel vs. Heel with The Reptile Tribe vs. The Rabbit Tribe. Finally we had a GREAT main event, where Jake Strong must’ve sent a stunt double down for that type of performance. The beat down afterwards was great stuff, and now we have just ONE episode left before Ultima Lucah.
Final Rating: 6.0/10